Wake Up Little Susie

"Wake Up Little Susie"
Single by The Everly Brothers
from the album The Everly Brothers
B-side	"Maybe Tomorrow"
Released	September 2, 1957
Format	45 rpm, 78 rpm
Recorded	August, 1957
Genre	Country, rockabilly
Label	Cadence
Writer(s)	Felice, Boudleaux Bryant
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
The Everly Brothers singles chronology
"Bye Bye Love" (1957) "Wake Up Little Susie" (1957) "This Little Girl of Mine" (1958)

"Wake Up Little Susie" is a popular song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and published in 1957.

The song is best known in a recording by The Everly Brothers,^[1] issued by Cadence Records as catalog number 1337. The Everly Brothers record reached number one on the Billboard Pop chart and the Cash Box Best Selling Records chart, despite having been banned from Boston radio stations for lyrics that, at the time, were considered suggestive, according to a 1986 interview with Don Everly.^[2] "Wake Up Little Susie" also spent seven weeks atop the Billboard country chart^[3] and got to number two on the UK Singles Chart. The song was ranked at #318 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[4]

In an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show during the 2000 U.S. presidential election, then-Governor George W. Bush named "Wake Up Little Susie" as his favorite song.^[5] "Wake Up Little Susie" was the first single filmmaker David Lynch bought.^[6]

Song premise

The song is written from the point of view of a high school boy to his girlfriend, Susie. In the song, the two go out on a date, only to fall asleep during the movie. They do not wake up until 4 o'clock in the morning, well after her 10 o'clock curfew. They then contemplate the reactions of her parents and their friends.

Don Everly reported it had been banned in Boston,^[2] however the song does not outright state that Susie and her boyfriend had sexual relations, leaving the interpretation up to the listener.

Cover versions and parodies

• British skiffle/rock and roll group The Rattlesnakes performed this song according to Barry Gibb. The group evolved into the Bee Gees in 1958.
• Joe Melson on the album Wake Up Little Susie
• Blue Suede Daddys
• In 2008, a part of the song was sung in the bluegrass version of The Raconteurs' "Old Enough", featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe.
• The musical duo Evan and Jaron recorded a version of the song on their album 52 Sundays.
• During Simon & Garfunkel's "Old Friends" tour in 2003-2004, they performed this song and others in a segment with the Everly Brothers, who toured in support. Simon and Garfunkel have cited the Everly Brothers as strong influences on their own music. Their live version of "Wake Up Little Susie," recorded in the duo's concert in New York's Central Park on September 19, 1981, reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, and is the duo's last Top 40 hit.
• Grateful Dead played "Wake Up Little Susie" 13 times in their acoustic sets between February and November 1970.^[7]
• Brand New Rockers
• Count Dee's Music Explosion
• David Ross
• Donny Osmond on the album The Donny Osmond Album
• Barry Frank
• Frankie Lymon
• Golden Boys
• Alvin and the Chipmunks in the 1989 Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "The Legend of Sleeping Brittany".
• Loggins and Messina
• Sam Levine
• Stavely Makepeace
• Suzi Quatro
• The Booze Bros
• The Caverners
• The Flying Burrito Brothers
• The King Brothers
• The Magic Time Travellers
• Outlaws
• The Rattles
• The Rockhouse Brothers
• ApologetiX parodied this song in their 2004 album, "Adam Up". The song was called, "Wake Up Talitha Cumi".
• Rockapella parodied this song in an episode of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? as "Look Out, Double Trouble".

See also

• Susie, the Dog^[8]

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics